Preacher (class)

Description: A man lectures a crowd of wowed peasants from a holy book. After his speech, the smallfolk gives generous donations to the preaching wanderer.

A midara is having her way with a hapless victim in a roadside inn. A frothing vagrant barges into the room, casting litanies at the bemused temptress.

An ascetic lashes himself with a makeshift whip, rattling off a list of his mistakes. He sighs at the end of his ritual, having regained his powers from the gods on high.

Preachers can range from the saintly priests of the Command See to the madmen on the corner of the street, but they have one thing in common: they see themselves as the shepherds of a populace that has given in to vice and sin, driven by the temptations of the midara infesting the land. Preachers will often join adventuring parties to rescue corrupted maidens, to recover divine artifacts or to cast seductresses out of the realm.

Abilities: Preachers can obtain a wide range of abilities based on whatever Vow they take at later levels. At the most basic level, every Preacher knows Faith Healing, which allows him to expend Willpower to restore his Stamina or that of any allies. Given his divine inspiration, all his basic Stamina and Willpower attacks will gain the Holy element. This works great when fighting against midara of the Underworld faction, but leaves him at a disadvantage when fighting the Heaven faction.

At level 2, he picks a preferred combat style: Chanting, Warding, Miracles or Relics. Chanting provides good support abilities, Warding protects against Ailments and enemy abilities, Miracles provides powerful but random effects, and Relics makes the Preacher rely on Consumables and Combat Items. He also gains access to Blessing From On High, makes all Ailments done to the character last one round shorter, up to a minimum of one.

At level 3, the Preacher takes a Vow to adhere to one of the seven cardinal virtues. A Vow of Chastity gives the character access to powers that protect his Willpower reserves from temptation, and bestow penalties on targets using lust-based attacks. A Vow of Temperance allows him to voluntary take stat penalties in battle in exchange for more Willpower and to limit his opponent's abilities. A Vow of Charity gives the Preacher the ability to spend coins in order to fuel his combat abilities. A Vow of Diligence gives Stamina benefits, and allows the Preacher to grow faster in other areas, such as in taming Summons. A Vow of Patience gives the Preacher powerful abilities that take effect on later turns, and give him stat bonuses the longer a battle lasts. A Vow of Kindness boosts the Preacher's Willpower whenever he aids his allies, and make out-of-combat interactions easier. A Vow of Humility gives the Preacher access to a ton of support abilities and stunts his growth so that he gains bigger boons at later levels. In addition, Faith Healing can now also cure Ailments.

At level 4, the Preacher's Faith Healing ability gains 2 points per encounter to spend freely on others. They also obtain an ability that is specific to the combination of Vow and combat style they picked.